Toast Coffee + Kitchen opens in Long Beach
Cookie dough pancakes at Toast Coffee + Kitchen in Long Beach. Credit: Newsday /Andi Berlin
"Try the cookie dough pancakes," says the bartender in the Art Deco banquet hall, standing underneath bulbous globe lights that hang from a ceiling of shiny tin tile. The handsome space is the newest addition to the popular Toast Coffee + Kitchen chain, a sprawling multilevel brunch cafe on the bottom floor of a historic Long Beach building.
It's opening week and nearly every table is full at 1 p.m. Young women in sundresses sip bloody Marys out of glass mugs as servers wearing "Good morning Long Beach" T-shirts shuttle plates of avocado toast topped with burrata cheese. Even though this is summer in Long Beach, nobody is wearing a bathing suit.
The latest Toast outpost is the most telling sign that we've hit all-day breakfast cafe mania. Iconic diners continue to shutter for reasons that include big portions, low menu prices and a lack of alcoholic drink sales. But at the same time, there are more breakfast chain restaurants than ever.
Long Island-based Brownstone's Coffee opened its fifth location in Sayville this April, serving Nutella Oreo waffles and a boozy cereal flight with Baileys and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. With a former Toast chef at the helm, Crazy Beans has three spots and a large selection of lattes flavored with amaretto, cookie butter or toasted marshmallow. In Huntington, Hatch embraces the doctrine of "peace, love and bacon" alongside a feisty green chili hollandaise. Unlike the diner, these restaurants go for an elevated atmosphere while still appealing to the nostalgic draws of candy and junk food besides an adult love of day-drinking.
It doesn't hurt that Toast, which has gained a strong following since 2002, is a powerhouse with solid culinary chops. (The group also recently opened a more intimate fine dining spot Revival by Toast in its original Port Jefferson location.)
A cast iron pan of scrambled eggs with an Italian touch, the Nonna's skillet ($16.95) is ladled with fresh ricotta cheese and blistered grape tomatoes. The country potatoes underneath could be crispier, but that's a difficult feat when they're smothered with eggs and turkey sausage.
Those cookie dough pancakes ($14.95) are well executed and downright restrained for the genre. Aside from a few scatters of chocolate chip cookie dough on top, the stack is mostly made up of pillowy pancake batter, not too airy, with crispy edges.
Maybe this is the success story: A brunch empire can only get so far on kitsch. At the end (or beginning) of the day, they've got to have a really great pancake.
Toast Coffee + Kitchen, 20 W. Park Ave., Long Beach, 516-670-5070, toastcoffeehouse.com. Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
